Solid Fight Fare

"Boys, this is a championship fight and has to be a good fight. I don't want you . . . backpedaling and running away from each other all the time. You realize one of the points on which the judges and referee arrive at a decision is effective aggressiveness. . . ."

One of the two boys who got this straight talk from New York's new Boxing Administrator Eddie Eagan (TIME, Jan. 22) was the world's featherweight champion, Willie Pep. A master boxer with a featherweight punch, he had been dubbed "BackPedaling Bill" by the fans. But in last week's 15-round championship battle with Bronx Phil Terranova, Hartford's nimble 124-lb. Willie put on the fighting-est show of his career.

After taking a fourth-round sock on the jaw, he stood his ground for the next eight rounds, coolly exploiting the art of hitting and not being hit. Then, realizing that he was far ahead on points, Hartford Willie coasted to his 86th victory in 87 professional fights.

Pep's championship bout drew 10,247 customers. Four nights later, Welterweight Walker ("Sugar Ray Robinson") Smith (148 1/2 lbs.) proved that punches speak louder than titles. A crowd of 18,060 jam-packed Madison Square Garden to see chocolate-colored Sugar Ray knock the block off game Middleweight Jake La Motta (158 Ibs.).

This was the kind of solid fighting the fans wanted, the kind that conscientious Commissioner Eagan, himself a famed amateur boxer, used to provide in younger days.

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